Los Arcos to Logrono

Traditionally, albergues (the name for the hostels where we stay) are run by 'hospitalerios' - people whose role it is to welcome pilgrims.

At this time of year, not all the albergues are open so we've been staying in the Government run 'municipals', so it was a real treat to stay in the pilgrim's rest attached to the church in Logroño.

Roberto and Elsa are a couple in their 70s who for the past five years have dedicated eight months of the year to looking after pilgrims.

From October to May, they open the church doors to people all over the world, give them a bed and prepare a shared meal for them.

Before dinner, we sang a 1000-year-old traditional Camino song together and afterwards they invited us into the church for a reflection where each pilgrim was asked to read some bible passages and prayers in their own language.

I know there are people of different beliefs and none in our group but we all enjoyed taking part in this shared experience which connected us to pilgrims past.

When life becomes a series of early starts, talk about distances and a litany of failing body parts, it was a lovely opportunity to spend just ten minutes considering what brought me here in the first place.

Roberto and Elsa are keeping the home fires of the Camino burning and I for one was grateful to warm myself by their hearth for a night.